Vladimir Putin will discuss Russian gas supplies to Hungary when he visits Budapest on Tuesday, an adviser to the Russian president said on Monday.

The trip will be Putin’s first bilateral visit to a European Union country since June 2014, reflecting a warming in ties that has irked some of Hungary’s allies in the EU and NATO.

While these have distanced themselves from the Kremlin over the Ukraine crisis, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said Hungary cannot turn its back on its main energy supplier.

In December, Russia scrapped the $US40 billion South Stream pipeline project, which was designed to supply gas to southern Europe without crossing Ukraine, citing EU objections. Hungary had firmly backed the project.

“An exchange of opinions will take place in this light. Hungary still means a lot as a market for our hydrocarbons and as a potential transit country,” Yuri Ushakov, an adviser to Putin, told reporters in Moscow.

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